


Just to Check

by useyourlove



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, post-NEXT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-13 01:12:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2131473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/useyourlove/pseuds/useyourlove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lina just wants to make sure Gourry is really there. A small vignette set immediately post-NEXT.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just to Check

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished reading translations of all the novels and re-watching through NEXT. I can't decide if my personal canon is NEXT then novels 9-15, or NEXT, then TRY, then novels 9-15 which might be more diplomatic (which is to say: I can't decide if Gourry has the Sword of Light here or not, so I just don't mention it.) At any rate, I had this schmoopy, angsty scene in my mind for a few days and finally got it out.

It was surreal to be sitting here beside the road with the fire blazing and everyone asleep not ten feet away. Or was it that what had just happened to them was surreal? Some kind of dream perhaps. Maybe the last week (or however long, whatever it was) hadn't happened at all. Just a bad nightmare. He'd never been kidnapped. Never let his guard down. Never felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach when the Golden Lady told him Lina was gone. Lina could never be gone. The whole idea of it--it must have been a nightmare.

He could almost convince himself it was true, until he would catch Lina staring at him when she thought he wasn't looking. Or see the way that Zel and Amelia and Sylphiel glanced in their direction from time to time. Gourry wasn't one to dwell on things, but even so, he had taken first watch because he couldn't get his mind quiet enough to sleep. Lina had held his gaze a bit too long when he had volunteered before she agreed, and they had all set out their camp, inhaled a massive dinner of rabbit and fish (jointly provided by the flashy skills of Lina and Zelgadis), and settled down to sleep.

The night was calm. Not a breath of malice in the air. Not a stir of anything but the night bugs, softly whirring in the forest.

"Gourry?" he only barely heard the small voice over the crack and pop of the fire. He blinked the spots away from his vision and looked up into Lina's face. Had he been staring into the flames hard enough to leave spots?

"Hey," he said. "Can't sleep?"

Lina had her arms folded hard against her chest, biting the inside of her lip. Her jaw was tense. She shook her head jerkily. He scooted sideways on the low log and patted the space beside him. The firelight was so pretty in her hair. He stared back into the fire to keep from staring at her.

She waffled on the edges of her feet, turning them sideways and then flat against the ground, deciding. Everyone was asleep. That was why she had gotten up to begin with wasn't it? Because for a minute they could be...

She sat down beside him, unfolding her arms and picking at the bark on the log. How could she say what she wanted to say? She didn't even _know_ what she wanted to say. She took a deep breath, made to start, and then let out it in a loud sigh.

"You want a snack?" he asked, easy as ever.

She shook her head.

"Wow, really?"

She nodded.

"You feelin' okay?"

She grabbed his hand before it made it to her forehead and clutched at it, so hard he felt the bones of his fingers mashed together. She chewed on her lips, staring into his eyes, her face flushed. Maybe she _was_ sick.

"Lina," he brought his other hand up to her cheek, brushing a long hank of hair neatly behind her shoulder with a gentle smile. "It's okay. It's okay now."

All at once she was buried against him, her arms wrapped around his chest so tight he thought he heard his ribs creak. She pressed her cheek into his shirt, inhaling a long draft of his scent. She couldn't do this with all of them around. Well, not when they were awake. But she needed to. She needed to make sure he was here, just this once. Just a spot check. Gourry, yes. Here, yes. All's well. She wasn't prepared to examine why it had hurt so much, or what the tightness in her chest was all about. But this made it feel better, so it was better than any words.

He slipped a hand under her knees and hoisted her into his lap, legs splayed across his thighs as he cradled her tightly against him.

"G-Gourry!" she cried out, in a whisper. But she had started this--she had broken that mysterious seal they had between them that never spoke of such things. And so she would see this out. She felt his fingers in her hair, caressing her scalp, his own nose reveling in the scent of her.

"You were gone, Lina," he said. She hid her face in his chest, holding him in her arms by locking her right hand around her left wrist behind his back. "You were gone, and now you're back. Just give me a minute. Please."

He used his minute wisely, a thumb slowly caressing her knee. Her breathing hitched, throat burning, and she realized she was crying. What a dumb thing to cry about! But she couldn't seem to stop.

"Gourry," she whispered against him. She couldn't seem to say anything but his name. Was it enough? Would he understand? It was hard to know what to say, or to say it when the others might wake. When she might be overheard. Did she even have anything to say? The way he felt against her--so huge and warm and permanent--she had missed that about his presence. Even though they never did things like this. Ever. "I won't--" she stopped. What was it? "I won't let you get hurt again," she finally stuttered out. "I'll... I'll be more careful."

He managed to get a finger burrowed under her chin, pulling her reluctant face up so he could look her in the eye. He didn't say anything about her tears, just wiped her cheek with the palm of his glove. "You don't have anything to apologize for," he said. "You're here. And so am I." Before she could realize what he was doing, he'd placed a kiss against her forehead.

She tore her chin from his hand and buried her face back against his chest. He held her close. Both of them just checking. Just making sure they were there, all in one piece. How had they managed to wait until nightfall to make sure? She had wanted to reach out and touch him every minute of every hour since dinner.

Eventually her breathing evened out. Had she fallen asleep on him? Well, that was fine. She'd had a rough time, from what he gathered. A long week. If what she went through for days was anything like what he felt in those few minutes.... Well, she deserved the rest, and he liked the feel of her against him. He liked the way she twitched in her sleep and mumbled violent little phrases. He liked the way her fingers curled into the front of his shirt when her arms went slack and she curled into a ball against him like a kitten seeking warmth.

It was lucky there was nothing evil around. For hours, he was too focused on her presence to notice anything else at all. Some watchman he was.

"Yo," Zel's familiar voice pulled at Gourry's attention. "She asleep?"

"Yeah," Gourry said with a small nod. She was curled tightly in his lap.

Zel leaned down and rubbed his gravelly hand against her hair--a gesture neither Zel nor Lina would have allowed had she been awake--before he sat down on the log beside Gourry, propping his sword at his side. "Good," he said. "She needs it. She tried to hide it, but she had a hard time when Fibrizo took you." Zelgadis left out the part about how sick she'd been that night. How he'd had to carry her back to the nearest inn, drifting in and out of consciousness while she coughed up blood and Amelia cast healing spells whenever she could manage it. Gourry didn't need to know those things. It would only worry him. "She likes to act strong. Pretend she doesn't need anybody. But I'm sure you know how she feels about you."

A gentle smile pulled at Gourry's lips. "I do."

Zel faintly echoed the smile. "And I know how you feel about her."

Gourry's brow darkened, and he nodded.

"Why don't you get some rest," Zelgadis said. "I'll take the next watch."

Gourry made no move to get up. "I'll sit with you," he said. He was all too reluctant to wake Lina.

"Maybe if you went just against the trees, over there," Zel said. "That way you could both sleep a bit, and when she wakes up and we can't see you, she won't fireball you into the next kingdom."

He thought that over. "Good idea," Gourry said, carefully standing so as not to wake Lina. He padded out of the circle of firelight, the tiny sorceress cradled in his arms.

Zel heard a dreamy sigh from the darkness and rolled his eyes. But he was glad he had nudged Amelia awake, all the same.


End file.
